Aki, tiny even when up close, diminishes to a dot as she and her other human climb away up the pioneer road. For awhile I struggled to keep up with them. But the bottoms of my old skis are sticking to the snow so I give up. Is what it is like to cross country ski in sand. 

            This is the first time we have skied on this pioneer road. In summer it is just a gravel gash through three and half miles of spruce forest. Buried in snow, like it is today, it offers a chance for silence and solitude. Walled in by forest on both sides, the road doesn’t distract, permits my mind to wander, to eventually sink into a calm catch basin. I am almost there when the wind rises to chill me and blow snow off the spruce tops. I am surprised to find myself welcoming the drama of blowing snow.